Sour Cream & Dill Dip

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun. Back in September 2013, my friends and I made a trip to Durdle Door, in the south of England. I made the trip down to my friends' home in Southampton from Solihull, and another friend came down from Sheffield. From there, we rented a car and drove to the famous limestone arch.

We left in the morning and after about an hour and a half, we arrived at our destination. It was a lovely sunny day, deceptively warm for September, as we stood in the bright sunshine and drank in the glorious view from the top of the cliff. The beach stretched out below us, the water was a beautiful blue, and only a few people dotted the landscape. We began our journey down to the pebble beach and then to find a spot to set up our little picnic. We put our bags down, spread our sheet out, and plonked ourselves on the stones and gazed at the arch across the 50m stretch of ocean that separated us from it (but not before we had numbed our toes by testing the water). As we sat there, we heard squealing and splashing and turned to see a group of people a little further down on our right who had actually gone into the water for a swim. Not to be outdone, my friend, Mr. Back-Of-The-Net stood up and announced that he was going for a swim too and that we should join him. We agreed (albeit reluctantly) and I borrowed a pair of shorts from him and went to change hurriedly behind a big bush lest someone at the top of the cliff happen to look down and be greeted by the sight of the sun shining off my bare bottom. Knowing that the water was colder than my wife's feet in a warm bed, the only way I was getting in was with a running start. So I took a few steps back, ran, and leaped in. For the first 2 or 3 seconds, nothing happened; then the pain started. Pain like I had never experienced before. It felt like my entire body was simultaneously on fire and being stabbed by thousands of needles. I knew then that I had 2 choices. The smart choice, to get out, dry off, put on my heaviest jumper and drink something hot. The not so smart choice, to stay in there and swim around until my body got used to the cold and the pain subsided. Needless to say, I'm not a smart guy. I stayed, and for the next few minutes bade farewell to my extremities as the cold slowly took away all feeling. Then as quickly as it had started to fade, I started to get feeling back in my limbs and we did the most logical thing we could think of. We swam farther in. Towards the arch until we reached the base. At this point we were feeling pretty good about ourselves so instead of turning around and swimming back to the shore, we reached out, grabbed a hold of the rocky arch, hauled ourselves out of the water and proceeded to climb it. We scaled the rocky face for about 15 feet and with no way to really climb back down, dove back into the chilly water. It didn't sting nearly as much this time and we made it back to the beach without incident. We dried off, changed, and wrapped ourselves in our warmest coats and proceeded to wolf down the food we'd carried. After we had eaten our fill, we made the trek back up to the parking lot stopping only to eat an ice-cream on the way.

While that dip in the ocean probably wasn't the best choice we made, whipping up this dip certainly is. And it involves no cooking!

For my Sour Cream & Dill Dip, you will need the following:

Sour cream	2 cups
Mustard	2 tsp
Dill leaves	2 big handfuls
Salt	to taste

Prep:

1. Chop up the dill leaves.

Method:

1. Grab a bowl.
2. Plop in the sour cream.
3. Spoon in the mustard.
4. Throw in the dill leaves.
5. Pinch in salt to taste.
6. Mix well.
7. Serve with pretty much anything. (Heavenly with Potato Wedges!)
8. Stuff face.
9. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dip.

Tip: Adjust the proportion and type of mustard based on your preference. I've used a few different types, and I've not been disappointed.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!